Party chat was the best gold feature pre-Modern Warfare 2. Main reason I renewed my gold.

Blue Thunder28

My brother will appreciate this. Great idea.

AriesDog

“Where’s my mute button again?”

casa1

What do Gold members get?

PuppyT

@JaggedCrane pre Modern Warfare 2? The party chat thing in Modern Warfare 2 hasn’t bothered me at all. Unless you were saying that now Modern Wasrfare 2 is the best gold feature… then I completely agree

Jamsponge97

Last.FM its brilliant Well done MS…luvvin it.. best thing about the update. Totally adds value now to having a Gold subscription

backofthepack8

Gold members get screwed again LOL.

MaSTeRsans

Cool

Gonzo345

All that I wanted is ENJOY the Last.fm that Microsoft announced on the E3 on Spain, nothing more.

TheUncommonCold

@backofthepack8 Yeah really! Where is or free silver weekend?

IxS1KxW1Tx1TxI

I am soooooo pissed off at microsoft and last.fm for not giving Canada the compatibility

Exu

Because there aren’t enough annoying pricks on Live already, let’s allow some who haven’t got mum and dad’s credit card on there!

TymmeZinni

I got a 360 shortly after the Elites came out. I picked up a PS3 a year later. I’ve always been a 360 fan, espec with the Arcade titles, and liked the ‘feel’ of the 360 controller better, so most of my purchases were 360… at first.

MS and paying for Gold “features” is really doing more and more to alienate me. Why bother with paying? Netflix is avail on PS3 now (maybe not 1080p, but I’ve yet to find anything that looks horrible in Netflix streaming content). FB integration is coming in next update. Many gold “Deal of the Week” offers are cross-platform. Demos are avail on both systems at the same time w/o 2- to 4-week wait for Silver members; 90% of titles are available on both systems, with free multiplayer.

Last.fm integration is still unique, and interesting, and I’d use it… but not for $4+ a month, when I can turn my PC on or boot into my Linux partition (on a much bigger hard drive) and listen/scrobble from there.

As it is, paying for Gold is an insult, though I’m sure there’s plenty of Halo players will say otherwise. Espec now that competition has dropped to a similar price, maybe it’s time to extend that ‘free’ offer beyond 3 days, or find something unique to make it worthwhile.

VEGEMITE 98

How Silver Members get free weekends and PAYING GOld Members get jack!

Casserole

Good to hear, can’t wait to play MW2 on Live. But there’s no way I’m paying for it, not until the racism, sexism, homophobia and other personal insults (trash talk is fine) has been eliminated. Of course, that will never happen, so no subscription from me again.

If there was a facility to block out players from certain countries though, I would hop on right away (will sort out the lag issues from having a host from the other side of the world too)

Casserole

@Exu

Surely that’s already happened, last time I was on Gold it was 50% prepubescent American kiddies yelling obscenities!

EveofLight

Its awesome how we need to pay for Gold to use these features, but yet they say its FREE ಠ_ಠ

Anonymous

@ Casserole

Your arrogance makes you sound like the prepubescent child. Do you really think that only Americans are rude on xbox live? That kind of thinking is unrealistic and immature. I’ve heard plenty of douche bags from the UK and from other countries on xbox live, as well as on the PC.

If you can’t handle people being rude, then how do you make it through your daily life? You are weak minded. Grow up and grow a thick skin.

Erick Krueger

Its awesome Tnks for the info Larry

Casserole

@MaimKILLRepeat

The difference in real life is I don’t have to pay to be insulted. And maybe it’s just the times that I play on, but yes, all of the rude ones I have heard (and muted) are American. Once on the original Xbox I had a couple of scousers who you can deem “rude”, but certainly not in the “argg you whore I’m gonna snipe your jew bitch ass” manner.

BillyMagnumFOD

PLEASE tell me since I already have Gold I get credit for these “FREE” weekends

PuppyT

@Casserole sure its bad sometimes. But you can mute people and stuff. Anyways… I’ve found in playing cage match (1vs1) on cod4 that most people aren’t complete jerks, they might act like that with a bunch of people or just when dissing the other team, but if you get just one person to play with and talk to, you find out the majority of gamers are actually pretty cool. I have gained numerous cool friends that way. You start to build up a friends list of awesome people and then you don’t have to worry about the losers

Anonymous

@PuppyT

Casserole is just another anti-american person who will find any reason to hate. I say, lets all get along, but people like her don’t want that. Makes me wish we’d stop helping other countries.

Chitwood7412

This seems cool marketing thing to do MS. I know I like 1vs100 and Last.FM is great.

N0RDS

Last.FM not available in Canada!!

XxLightkunxX

Casserole doesn’t seem to notice there is a MUTE PLAYER option as well as the ability to block communications with players. If it really bothers you that much just don’t play but I honestly can’t see how playing with people online is really that bad; grow some thicker skin.

DarkTear81

I have to defend Casserole here.
Well it isn’t all about the USA. Actually, me as a german gamer get most of the insults (Sieg Heil and such things) from the UK ppl. I had some US peeps who did the same, but with the close time window we got to the UK I play mostly against them. Another really annoying thing is the constant 12y old screaming kid who seems to have his place in like every COD match you play.

The main point is another one though:
Yes, you got the option to mute and/or report players. But in the first place I wanna play games. It’s just bullshit you have to mute and/or report at least one player in every round of COD.

The other part of the missing party chat is the ability to just chat with folks I know personally. The game won’t recognize my friend is playing another game then me and I wanna go for a gamemode that won’t allow party chat… No, I have to leave the party chat. Same applies to the mixed parties I had in the past. Some peeps on COD4, some on Fifa, some on something completely different.

Last but not least the party chat is one of the features you pay for. It’s a contract between me and M$. I pay, they deliver for what I pay… wait they ripped me of one of those features… something is wrong there…

@Topic
I dunno if the new features like FB or Twitter will appeal to others to pay for it. Actually, Twitter and FB are free on the PC/PS3, more comfortable and in the case of FB… with more functionality.
Last.FM is only available in the US I guess… at least on the 360. There’s a german Last.FM on the PC.

hyghwayman

If only I haddn’t just packed up my 360 for the move to our new house this weekend.

TidalPhoenix

Have to say the Last.fm integration is freakin’ ace! I love the interface. Would be even cooler if we could play the stations in the background while doing other stuff on live (browsing new games, downloading stuff, replying to messages, etc). Can understand it perhaps not being usable within games due to it constantly streaming over the network and possibly affecting mp performance.

MoskitoKrebs

Last.Fm is just available in US and UK, for is just Twitter and facebook, what i wanna do with it?? i dont even have an acc there.
I think MS is searching more MOD consoles to ban them, and i think this is right.

yolarrydabomb

I’ll pass until get a proper age filter on Halo 3 and others.

Kids screaming and whining gives me a headache.

Gunner2134

@ Casserole:

I have to agree with you on immaturity of Xbox Live players, especially on Modern Warfare 2. I don’t agree with some of the comments made by some that feel you’re being anti-American, because what you say is true. There’s a lot of people playing these games online that cross the line and start making discriminatory comments, who just happen to be Americans and that is unacceptable. To hell with growing a thick skin; how about people being decent for once? There’s nothing wrong with trash talking,but let’s keep it clean. When you play these games, understand that you’re exposing yourself to the world and representing our country, so your actions online are a reflection of that.

BTW: Any other of my fellow Americans want to disagree with me on this, that’s o.k too. However, before any of you dare to call me a traitor, I am a former Marine and a die-hard American, and before you say anything negative about me, ask yourself this: WTF have you done for you country lately?

thefalcon2k

To the guys who say that us paying members get no bonuses. How about the fact that we get things ahead of time … or higher priority in the Xbox LIVE Preview Programs? Let’s not forget that the guys who can’t afford this greatness only get to check this out on a rare opportunity!

Jonah Falcon

Keep saying PSN is free – until you try to have friends, friend lists or even a stable online multiplayer. Plus, you have Sony charging devs and publishers to host PSN content. There’s no such thing as a free lunch.

Lucky 13 X

For those of you Silvers in the UK, you may want to review the following promotion where Xbox Live gives you a good deal on upgrading to Gold.

Microsoft, Please add VALUE to XBL Gold subscriptions if you want people like me to renew or start an XBL Gold membership.

Here are some suggestions:
* Provide a free XBLA game every quarter (4 times per year)
* Provide 1-3 free digital game guides per year
* Provide 1-3 free movie tickets per year to any theater and to a movie of your choice
* Provide online multiplayer to all XBL members of every level
OR
* Drop the price of XBL Gold subscription to $25 per year ($2.08/mth)

Where is my incentive to pay? Online multiplayer is the only service I care about and owning a PS3, I don’t feel the cost is justified on 360. The latest Gold-only services (Facebook, Twitter, and Last.fm) are free on multiple other devices, so it’s more like a slap in the face that Silver members can’t use these features.

Provide REAL incentive and you have a better chance of changing our minds.

Also, the US region has an offer for 3 months of Xbox Live Gold for 50% off at $9.99. You gcan get through the Spotlight channel on the dashboard.

xo maro

Thanks for free weekend. My Gold have just expired

lennieboy16

nice free weekend,kind a suks since i cant use instant streaming.gonna buy gold nex week this will be my chance to see if it is worth it. why can’t live be available in the bahamas? (if u have the answer then answer)

Slartibartphast

Gold is the worst thing about the xbox. I just got one and have a wii also, I’ve got kids. To allow kids to play anything online, and say my spouse once in a while, that’s 200/year, and that’s just nuts.

It adds so little, it’s more like unblocking what should be free. Facebook and twitter and netflix. All free things on my computer, I pay for the bandwidth and netflix. Why don’t silver users get that?

Also if I buy any games available on multiple platforms, it will be a wii purchase so my kids can play free. This is a point I don’t understand, it seems anyone with multiple consoles would do this for these kinds of games.

If ms must charge, make the fee cover an entire console or entire family (spouse/child accounts). In fact before I bought it I thought that was the case, fool me once shame on me. Still, the gold really just feels like a lock you have to pay to remove.

Shuvo0o

Awesome! Is it available in Australia? If so, when does it start and end?

I really hope that Youtube comes on Xbox 360. I am addicted to Facebook and Youtube!

Please put Youtube on Xbox 360 for the next update =D

xo maro

I’m up for Youtube aswell /sign

PuppyT

@Slartibartphast just have everyone play on your one account? We got a 13 month for 30 bucks, last February a few different retailers were selling them that cheap.

Jacky Prower

I, too, think that Gold Subscription is real theft.
However it’s useless to complain, XBOX 360 users will pay EVERYTHING, and Microsoft knows that.
YOU pay to play, YOU pay your premium themes, YOU pay your avatar clothes, and I can’t have this things for free (as they should always be) because of you.

Look at Japan, they’ve had the best offers (after less than a year the price of the console was incredibly lower than USA and Europe) because they DON’T buy.
If you buy and pay all this shit, you only do the Microsoft’s game, and they’ll never let the GOLD subscription (or everything else for that matter) for free.

Look at PC gamers. They’ll never pay for playing online, right? Microsoft hasn’t even tried to offer a monthly subscription… we are the idiots in here, the 360 owners.

But I’ll never ever pay for Gold, I’ll never pay for clothes, I’ll never pay for Themes, or “Games On Demand”.
I can’t stand this theft anymore.

aStrangeDisease

My Gold just ran out so this is awesome. I will renew within the month.
BTW, Gold is not a rip-off. It is not theft because you have a choice. I have themes and avatar clothes that I didn’t pay a cent for. Stop crying and get online so I can kick your a**.
$5/month is nothing. My girlfriend pays $15/month to play WoW on the PC.

xo maro

I was playing WoW on the PC for 3 years so Gold is not a problem for me but I would like to see some free promotions like free shirt from game for avatar or free premium theme from time to time because this always makes smile on user’s/gamer’s faces. Do anyone agree?

WheelzthatKeelz

Not ALL XBOX LIVE SILVER members will be able to use Last.FM or 1vs100… Nobody in Australia can, that’s for sure.

Coffeenator

“Free Xbox LIVE Weekends” sorta like the drug dealer offering the first hit for free??

Back to the podcast … I did not get around to listening to it till today.

So what unlicensed hardware is authorized HMMMM??
According to the XBL ToU only authorized hardware is allowed to be used with the service and the only officially authorized is hardware with the “Licensed for Xbox 360″ logo on it and the Turtle Beach headsets fail on that. Using “It’s not a Memory Unit” excuse is pure fail, it seems more like the rule is 3rd party hardware is authorized until we (Microsoft) decide we don’t like it.

So when is MS releasing updated Memory Units that are not horrendously expensive for the capacity (either though major price cuts or releasing higher capacities)?